2013 Cherry Blossom Festival

Ever have one of those days (or months) where you just need a change of scenery?  That's how I was feeling last weekend so we ventured out to San Fransisco for the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown.   I didn't take a lot of photos due to the crowds.  Plus I wanted to actually enjoy the event, not just document it.  However, I did make an effort to take photos of things I've never shared before in past Cherry Blossom posts. 

This year there was a Japanese sword exhibit.  At the exhibit this sword diagram caught my eye.

Also in the exhibit were quite a few Tsubas (the guard part of the sword).  I had never seen one separated from a sword before.  I was impressed with how unique and detailed the tsubas were on their own.  They looked like mini pieces of art.

While shopping in Japantown, we saw the new arcade Playland Japan for the first time.  All the games in the arcade were new to me (not that I keep up on arcade games).  Pictured above is a Pikachu game.  I wasn't able to get a picture but the front of this machine looks just like a giant Pikachu.

I call this one the kawaii claw.  Have you ever seen a claw machine so neatly set up?  If any of the toys got knocked over after someone played the game, an attendant came and straightened them up.

In the back of the arcade I spotted this taiko drum game.  We didn't get to try it out but it looked like a lot of fun.

Last, I give you the The Bishi Bashi.  I looked this up and apparently you compete with others in a bunch of mini games.  I'm not sure what the mini games consist of. 

The festival offers so much more than what I shared here.  There's plenty of  good food, shows, crafts, and even a parade.  To find out more, visit the official Cherry Blossom festival page here.  The event runs for one more weekend (April 20 -21) so there's still time to check it out.

Makers Gonna Make

"Makers Gonna Make" Tattly Design by Jude Landry

I was browsing around Tattly the other day when I stumbled upon this temporary tattoo, Makers Gonna Make.  The quote just spoke to me and made me laugh.  If you've never visited Tattly before, they have lots of designer/crafty themed tattoos.

Here are a few other crafty places I've been enjoying around the web:

Dewey Decimal System Inspired Journals by Lime Riot - I'm smitten with this idea of a dewey decimal system inspired craft project.  Did you know "crafts" falls under 745.5?  

Guest Post by Abby Glassenberg on Crafty Pod - Abby shares how she's been talking on the phone with some of her blog readers.  I found this post intriguing and very insightful.  For bloggers, would you call up some of your readers?  For readers, would you want to talk on the phone with the authors of the blogs you read?

Washi Tape Crafts - Amy Anderson from Modge Podge Rocks just launched a new site dedicated to washi tape crafts.

Cut Out + Keep featured in Google Ad - Normally I wouldn't send you to an ad but since it features Cat and Tom from Cut Out + Keep I'm making an exception. I just watched the video myself, it's really well done.

I also want to give a shout out to Michele for helping me get a grip on the spam comment situation.  Captcha is off once again! 

Eye Candy

and then there were two...

A while back I bought some candy eyes at the store.  I had planned on using them for April Fool's day for my kids' lunches.  I had it all planed out, I was going to place the eyes in their sandwiches and not say a word.  Unfortunately the joke was on me because April Fool's Day fell on spring break.  I suppose I could have used them anyways but it just didn't seem as fun.  I guess there's always next year.  That said, I thought some of you might enjoy seeing the eyes in action.  

Here's what the package looks like.  I purchased the candy at Target but I think I've seen this at Michaels as well. 

I can't help but think of Heidi Kenney's plush toys when I look at this.

Changing subjects, I'm going to try and get rid of the Captcha to make commenting easier.  I stress the word try because I always get tons of spam when I do this.  Then I end up turning the feature back on. If you have the time, please let me know in the comments if you prefer no Captcha, thanks :)

*Update  Captcha is back on.  I had over 30 spam comments within less than 24 hrs :(

Secret Asian in Disguise

Children can say the most unexpected and funny things.  I decided to take some of those unexpected moments and work them into my art.  Pictured above is an illustration of my son.  When he was little he used to think "secret agent in disguise" was actually "secret asian in disguise".  I feel like I need to give you a little background on this so you understand why we thought this was funny.  First off, I'm Caucasian and my husband is Japanese.  My son ended up taking more after me when it comes to looks; he has medium brown hair and fair skin.  That said, he kind of is like a "secret asian in disguise".

Below is a little bit about how I created this illustration.

I started off with the photo above.

I cropped the photo and turned it into a black and white image.  I used the "photocopy" filter in Photoshop to make it.  If I'm making an illustration that's mainly black and white, I like to do this so I can get a better idea of how the image will look.

Next I sketched out the image on Bristol board.  Once I had a good outline of the image, I started inking it in one section at a time. I recommend using Micron pens for this. They come in all different sizes.  I used a 03 for this illustration. 

Last I colored in the image with markers.  Lately I've been using Copic markers for my illustrations.  I also like Tria markers. 

If you were going to make a piece of art from an overheard quote, what would it be?

Printable Bookworm Calendar

You may recall me writing about the Scout Creative Printable calendars.  Every month the Scout team would come out with a free printable calendar.  At some point Scout Creative started posting the calendars on a new site called Crush, making it tricky to track down the printables.  In case you were looking for them, click here to access the April calendar.